1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communication networks and, in particular, to blocking advertisements sent to IMS users over IMS networks.
2. Statement of the Problem
Service providers are accepting the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as the next generation network architecture. The IMS architecture is defined by the 3GPP to provide multimedia services to IMS devices over an Internet Protocol (IP) network, as IP networks have become the most cost savings bearer network to transmit video, voice, and data. IMS networks allow for delivery of multimedia content to IMS users in an efficient manner, which allows IMS users to exchange multimedia messages, share songs, share videos, play video games, etc.
One problem that IMS users may encounter is that advertisers may take advantage of the multimedia functionality of the IMS network by bombarding IMS users with unsolicited advertisements. An advertiser may transmit multimedia messages, video clips, pop-ups, and other advertisement content to IMS users over the IMS network. For example, an IMS user that has subscribed to a mobile television service may receive multimedia advertisements before or during the mobile television services. Unsolicited advertisements such as this may be annoying to an IMS user.
To provide these advertisements in an IMS network, the service provider operating the IMS network allows certain application servers to provide paid advertisements to the subscribers. For example, a first application server will provide video-related advertisements, and a second application server will provide audio-related advertisements. These application servers that are providing the paid advertisements are provisioned in the initial filter criteria (iFC) for the IMS users. The iFC causes the advertisements to be sent to the IMS users as follows. To register with the IMS network, the IMS device of an IMS user transmits a register message (i.e., a SIP REGISTER) to the Serving-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) for the IMS user. In response to the register message, the S-CSCF transmits a request for a service profile (i.e., a Diameter Server Assignment Request (SAR)) of the IMS user to the subscriber database (i.e., a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)). The subscriber database stores the service profile for the IMS user, which includes the iFC defined for the IMS user. The subscriber database then provides the service profile to the S-CSCF, such as in a Diameter Server Assignment Answer (SAA). The S-CSCF then processes the iFC to determine how to route subsequent SIP messages for the IMS user.
One assumption is that the iFC defined by the service provider includes conditions for contacting the first or second application servers (or other application servers) that provide advertisements when a SIP message is received. For example, if a SIP INVITE is received to initiate a video session with the IMS user, then the iFC may define that the first application server is to be included in the session to provide a video-related advertisement to the IMS user. Thus after processing the iFC, the S-CSCF transmits a SIP INVITE to the first application server, and the first application server responds to the S-CSCF with a SIP message (i.e., a SIP MESSAGE) that includes the video advertisement. The S-CSCF then forwards the SIP message with the video advertisement to the IMS user. The iFC defined for the IMS user thus causes the advertisements to be provided to the IMS user by the application servers.
One solution to the problem of unsolicited advertisements is to block the advertisements in the IMS network before the advertisements are actually sent to the IMS device (also referred to as User Equipment (UE)). There are a few proposals for how to block advertisements in the IMS network. For one proposal, when the S-CSCF receives a SIP message that is destined for the IMS user, the S-CSCF processes the content type for the message to determine if the SIP message may include an advertisement before forwarding the SIP message to the IMS user. If the SIP message may include an advertisement, then the S-CSCF forwards the SIP message to an application server that is programmed to screen advertisements. The screening application server then determines whether or not to block the advertisement before it is sent to the IMS user. One problem with this proposal is that a dedicated application server is needed to screen the advertisements.
In another proposal, the S-CSCF stores a black list of application servers that are known for sending advertisements, such as the first and second application servers described above. When the S-CSCF receives a SIP message destined for the IMS user, the S-CSCF identifies whether the SIP message was sent by an application server that is on the black list. If the application server is on the black list, then the S-CSCF blocks or discards the SIP message and does not send it to the IMS user. One problem with this proposal is that IMS users cannot be treated differently. In other words, the S-CSCF blocks advertisements from certain “black-listed” application servers regardless of which IMS user is the intended recipient of the advertisement. Some IMS users may want to receive advertisements, while others may not. This proposal does not allow the flexibility to treat IMS users differently with regard to receiving advertisements.
It would be desirable to efficiently and effectively allow service providers to block advertisements dynamically based on user preferences.